


Eggplant Parmesan

by amaradangeli



Series: We Made It [11]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Cooking, Episode: s04e18 The Light, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 04:11:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5613526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaradangeli/pseuds/amaradangeli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After three weeks in light detox Jack and Sam finally get back together for dinner. It turns into a night of traversing their new relationship and making a revelation.<br/><img/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Eggplant Parmesan

**Author's Note:**

> Art by Samantha-Carter-is-my-muse

Almost two months go by before they're able to get together again. They'd had a busy month during which he'd tried to invite her over a couple of times but had been gently, sweetly, rebuffed. It had stung a little, thinking he wanted the time more than she did, but she'd smiled softly at him and told him that she wanted to, she just had this or that to do. And he'll give her one thing – she certainly had _looked_ busy. After that it was three weeks in light detox. That was a special kind of hell. Three weeks of sharing dinner with her every night but with Daniel and Loren so close all he could be was her commanding officer rather than her... what? Boyfriend didn't seem right. Lover wasn't true. They hadn't put any labels on what they were doing.

Finally, though, after being home he seeks her out, finds her in her lab and tells her, in no uncertain terms, that they're having dinner together. Tonight. She looks up at him and gives him a confused looking smile like she doesn't know why he's pushing and then agrees, simply. He deflates a little, he'd been geared up to fight for it a little bit. She asks him what she can bring and he tells her not to worry about it, he's got it all under control. That makes her smile widen and her eyes soften further. She thanks him, silently, just her lips moving and then he's backing out of her lab with a distinctive spring in his step.

Later that evening he's slicing eggplant into neat little discs when he hears his front door open. "It's just me," comes her voice and he's inordinately pleased that they've reached the point where she'll just let herself into his house.

She comes straight into the kitchen holding a bottle of wine and he grins because she couldn't just show up, she had to contribute and it feels like a metaphor that makes him happy. "I didn't know what we were having," she says, "but I found a bottle of that red we like." It also made him happy to hear he was part of a we again. A we that had a preference for something. It made the whole thing feel so... real.

He takes the proffered bottle from her and sets it down on the counter before snagging her hand and pulling her into his arms. She comes willingly and molds her soft body to his. He can feel her nose against his neck and then her lips. It gives him a jolt to feel her press a kiss against his skin there. He can't go another moment without kissing her. He pulls back from her just enough to bend his head to hers. The kiss starts out light, just a pressing together of their lips, but soon she makes a hungry sound and opens her mouth. He beats her tongue to the punch and is in control of the kiss. He catalogues the ridges of her teeth first and then, when it's becoming clear she's losing patience with his slow, methodical exploration of her mouth, he winds their tongues together in a way that makes her squeak in the back of her throat and press her body even harder against his. It's enough to take his body from content to interested to ready in the span of a handful of heartbeats.

She ends the kiss by tilting her head back and exposing her neck to him. She blows air out through pursed lips and then chuckles. "It's been a long time since we've done that."

"And we're still good at it."

"God, the last three weeks were so hard. With you, but not. And watching you cook dinner every night and just wanting to touch you..."

It makes him feel good to know she had only been holding on by a thread, too. "I think we're creating some kind of fetish between us about cooking," he says lightly even though he's feeling pretty full up on heavy emotions. "Maybe we should be spending a little more time in the living room than in the kitchen."

"I like cooking with you."

"And I like watching you try to cook," he teases.

"Speaking of cooking," she says and steps back out of his arms, "are you going to feed me tonight, or what?"

He wonders seriously for a moment whether _or what_ is really an option, because he could think of a lot of things they could be doing outside the kitchen. Hell, if she is so partial to the kitchen, they could do it there. But before he can voice his thoughts she's already moving away to the drawer where he keeps the corkscrew and then is pulling two wine glasses down out of the cupboard. He lets her pour the wine while he goes back to slicing the eggplant.

"What are we having?" she asks as she sets a glass of wine down by his cutting board.

"Eggplant Parmesan."

"Ooh, I like that."

"I know." But mostly he's making it because it's quick and easy and it won't distract him too much from her and the way she just seems to fit into his space, because it is easy to get distracted with her around. Especially when she is feeling flirty and easy, like last time. Hopefully, like she's feeling tonight.

He watches her take a sip of wine and then the way her throat moves as she swallows and boy is he in trouble because even that makes him want her.

"Get the breadcrumbs out of the pantry, would you? And some eggs out of the fridge?"

She doesn't even bother to ask him what he's going to do with them, she just fills his request, wine glass in one hand as she moves around his kitchen. While she watches he makes the egg bath and then seasons the breadcrumbs. She watches him shrewdly as he breads the eggplant discs and teases him about his methodical approach to the task. He kisses her mouth when she gets too impish and tells her to get the pasta and pasta sauce out of the pantry. She can make pasta, they've figured out by now, so he lets her put the water on to boil while he gets a frying pan out of the cabinet.

They've got some time to kill while waiting on the water so he leans back against the counter and pulls her right up into him so her feet are between his and her breasts press into his chest and he can feel every breath she takes. "Wanna make out?" He asks her with a grin and suddenly her arms are around his neck and she's kissing him for everything she's worth.

This part is new. Not the kissing, but the making out like teenagers who are pressed for time and he likes it. She pulls her arms down from around his neck and starts running her hands all over the parts of his body she can reach and he's got to give her an A for effort because damn if she isn't revving him up. Her strong yet incrogurously delicate hands are skimming along his sides when she presses her hips into his and she can feel how ready he is, he knows, because she grins against his mouth.

"Hey," he mutters, "don't make fun of something you're responsible for."

"I wasn't making fun," she presses her hips into him again, "I was just enjoying the scenery."

He threads his fingers into her hair and lightly tugs her head back so he can look into her eyes. "You do too much more enjoying and we're going to have a problem."

She grins. "How long do you think we can keep this up before we end up in bed?"

The question startles him. He knows their relationship was heading there eventually, he just hadn't expected her to so boldly ask when. "I'm not waiting for anything specific, if that's what you're asking."

"I'm not saying I'm ready," she says. "I think it'll change everything and I'm still getting used to being out there while we're like this in here."

He thinks he followed that, but there's not a lot of blood left in his brain. "Then I guess we'll keep this up until you're ready."

"It's not going to make you... angry... to wait."

"Why would it make me angry?"

She presses her hips back into his and then raises an eyebrow Teal'c would be proud of.

"Sam, I'm a grown man. If I can't deal with a hard-on now and again then I'm not much of a man now, am I?"

She blushes prettily at his blunt statement and he finds it rather incongruous with the woman who can flirt with him so easily, who takes pleasure in turning him on. Who will look directly at what she does to him with a glint in her eye that makes it very hard not to take her straight to bed. But to talk about it, to say it out loud, apparently, makes her cheeks stain that pretty pink and he finds that he really loves that about her.

"How's your water doing?"

She peeks over into the pot. "Just tiny bubbles. We've got some more time."

Using the hand that's still buried in her hair he directs her mouth back to his and kisses her slowly, deeply, and tries to make love to her mouth in a way that will make her just as ready and willing as he is. Not because he wants to push her, but because he likes the way her eyes go dark when she's as ramped up as he is. When he pulls back from her, her eyes open slowly and he can see it, the small ring of blue around pupils blown wide with desire. He licks his lips and her eyes drop to watch the movement and she copies it.

He reaches around her with his free hand and grasps her behind, pulling her tightly into him. He rotates his hips and lets the pressure back him down a little. He must look just this side of wild because she says, "I didn't come here tonight to make things hard on you." His eyes fly open wide and she starts to laugh. "Oh, I didn't mean that the way it sounded, but it's true nonetheless. Difficult, I meant."

"You don't make things difficult," he tells her. "You make them seem damn easy."

"Not so easy," she says with a sad little smile. "Because what we have here still has to stay here."

"We knew that going in."

"Yeah."

"Tell me something," he says and stands up straight, putting a little space between them. "Are you not ready because you're worried about how we'll function," he flicks his hand out toward the sky, "out there?"

"Maybe, a little."

"If you think sex is going to change the way I feel about you, you're wrong."

"Sex changes things."

"Not that much. Sam, if I was gonna make a bad decision out there about you, whether we're sleeping together or not, it would have happened already. It would have happened on that planet while we were detoxing. Out there, you're under my command along with Daniel and Teal'c and I take that responsibility very seriously."

"I know you do."

"I'm just saying, don't not be ready because you're afraid it's going to put me – us – in a bad position out there."

"I'm still trying to assimilate my feelings," she says slowly. "It's not only about you."

"Okay. It's okay if you're not ready."

She steps back into him and hugs him tightly. "Thank you."

She steps away from him then to check on her water and then starts fussing with the package of noodles so he gives her some space to think, lets her enormous brain process the things they've said to one another. He really doesn't fault her for not being ready to go to bed, though he'd take her there right now if she gave him the go ahead. And he can even understand _why_ she's holding back. He just wanted to make sure it wasn't because she didn't trust him to do the right thing if something happened out there.

"The water's boiling," she says and pulls him out of his thoughts and back to her.

"Okay, time to get the eggplant on." While she dumps the pasta into the water, he heats olive oil in this frying pan. They spend the next ten minutes frying up the eggplant to a beautiful golden brown and heating the pasta sauce in a saucepan.

When all the food is done, he makes them beautiful looking plates that she even comments on. "It looks like a restaurant," she remarks as he sets the plate down in front of her at the table. He notices she's topped up their wine glasses and brought them to the table.

She takes a bite of the eggplant and her face goes blissful. "Let's not wait two months again."

"You really just come for the food, don't you?" he teases.

Her eyes open and her face turns serious. "No. The food was... an excuse... at first. I wanted to be with you and I didn't know how to do that."

"At the beginning?"

She nods, "It was about you. I needed _you_. I just didn't know how to deal with that. I didn't want to admit it."

"It's okay to need people."

"I didn't need _people_ , Jack."

"It's okay to need me," he revises.

"Not really, it isn't," she says, referencing the UCMJ, he's sure.

"Well, you can't help who you fall in.." he trails off uneasily.

She locks her eyes with his. "Who you fall in love with?" she finishes quietly.

He swallows heavily. He hadn't really meant to say it. Feeling it was one thing, but he also feels like it's too soon. He shrugs one shoulder and knows he has a sheepish look on his face.

"No," she says slowly, "I guess you can't."

He knows then that they're not going to acknowledge the revelation, not right now, anyway. But that's okay, because she's got a content sort of look on her face that he didn't realize had been missing. There had been a slight line of worry by her eyes he hadn't placed until it was gone.

He knows she now knows that he was serious when he said sex wouldn't change how he felt about her and he wonders, if knowing he loves her, would make it easier for her to take the next step. He didn't know, but he hoped.

She picks up her glass and took a long sip of wine. "I'm glad we did this tonight."

He's not sure if she means the getting together for dinner or the talking things through without meaning to, but he guesses it doesn't really matter. "Me too."

He watches as she tucks back into her Eggplant Parmesan, her shoulders relaxed, her body loose, and realizes that it might have been too soon, but it's something she'd needed to hear and so he is glad he almost said it. He doesn't know what the next date between them will bring but he takes comfort in knowing that there is an easy peace growing between them. He just hopes nothing is coming their way that is going to challenge it.


End file.
